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Dear Diary

This is an extension of my series ‘My Cannabis Diary’, a weekly discussion with myself about how life and cannabis are constantly intertwined.

Doing time math when you’re officially three decades old can make you feel… extra experienced. For example, I’ve been smoking weed pretty much every day for ten years. In that decade there have been a weekend to two week break from smoking, eating & vaping here and there. But this was more due to lack of legality or availability rather than a desire not to get high or medicate. In the last few months I’ve felt a calling to just take one week off of smoking altogether to reset and see where my endocannabinoid system is at now. This isn’t a new idea either, what I’m talking about here is a tolerance break.

When I began medicating with cannabis it was primarily for depression. In that time I have picked up quite a bit of anxious habits and thoughts, and now that too is something that I medicate for. Since my body doesn’t metabolize alcohol well I also tend to smoke or eat edibles when going out to an alcohol-heavy party or gathering. Many researchers believe that endocannabinoid deficiencies could be at the root of some conditions. If that is the case, it’s possible that with all the cannabis floating around my system I may no longer be deficient where I once was. This is why a tolerance break is surely in order, and I’m ready to start… tomorrow.

To prepare I’m going to want to have lots of fruits and vegetables around and probably start the first few days with a CBD tincture to take the edge off. It’s also a great idea to stay plenty hydrated. I am actually a little excited to refocus my drive and redefine my relationship with cannabis.

Have you ever taken a tolerance break? How long? What helped you get through? Let me know in the comments!

It has been about ten years now that I have been using cannabis as a medicine. I got my first medical cannabis recommendation in San Francisco to treat anxiety and depression while in college. At that doctor’s appointment I was also taught that yoga and meditation could be valuable for my condition. All three -cannabis, yoga, and meditation- remain valuable to me as I enter my third decade on the planet.

Medicating using cannabis in four counties across three different states has been a challenge. The federal illegality combined with the lack of consistent product made true treatment feel just out of reach. This has been a prominent running thought while I helped countless patients while budtending during that same decade. Because of these experiences I’ve found myself taking personal calls, emails, Instagram messages and more from dear friends and family to absolute strangers helping people find the right cannabis products for their individual needs. I just know how badly people need a little help. The reality is that with the current lack of federally approved research I’m basing these tips completely off of tried and true experience. Trial and error led me, and now I’m going to write it all down here, in the dearest of diaries.

The first epiphany that is worth sharing is that cannabis must be respected as a medication. If we are medicating, then we must find the right dosage and apply it scientifically until we’ve dialed in. As fun as it is, taking bong rips just isn’t a medical application. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be packing brimmers with your friends on a Friday afternoon, though. It just means that the latter is recreational use, while the former is a medical application. For me, it has been necessary to identify to two as to not abuse my medicine into a place of addiction.

I’m going to be posting these weekly, if you have questions about how to use cannabis or specific products pose them in the comments or shoot me an email. I’ll make sure to address it here.